Freedoms

When you're on an insulin pump, the nurses will often tell you that you can not wear it for an hour. For example, if you were going for a swim, you would take off your insulin pump and when you're done... usually no longer than that hour, you would check, and then give a correct dosage of insulin for time missed, or if you're low or doing O.K you just reconnect and that's that.  

I love having an insulin pump because surprisingly despite it being attached to me, it does give me freedom. It gives me the opportunity to go along with the crowd. For instance, if I am at someones house and we have dinner, then they offer me dessert to follow, then some snacks following that. If I truly wanted to pig out like my fellow non-diabetics. It is made easy by pushing a few buttons and not having to figure out how much insulin I have on board etc.  It just makes life diabetes a bit more simpler.

However, because wearing an insulin pump means wearing it 24/7 minus those time when you're swimming, showering or what else you may take your insulin pump off for. It can get a bit tedious having to rearrange in while you're sleeping, or awkwardly find a place for it in a tight dress.  But, all good things come with bad I suppose. It's amazing how refreshing it can be at times to give yourself an hour break.

I don't think of it often because when I think of taking off my insulin pump, I think of swimming or showering like I said. I don't think about taking it off for the sake of taking it off.  I think that's healthy though simply because it's not the best idea to not where your insulin pump.  However, early this morning my pump site ripped out.  Classic.  It ripped out and I really didn't want to crawl out of bed to put a new site in.  Honestly, this has happened before and I am sure I've wrote about it.

Anyways, once the site was off, I decided that I was going to give my skin, my mind, my stomach, my body a break from wearing it.   I was only going to NOT wear it for an hour just as if I was swimming, but instead I was just watching a show in bed, grabbing a glass of water, checking the weather outside, talking to my roommate about current events.  Nothing crazy, just life.  It felt good, because when I went to use the bathroom I wasn't worried about if my insulin pump was going to fall into the toilet.  When I laid in bed to watch a show, I wasn't rearranging my pump from pressing into my body and when I went to get a glass of water I wasn't worried about my tubing twisting around the cabinet knobs. 

Of course I checked my blood sugar and was hanging around a 7.  I will put a new site in and from there find a place for my insulin pump, and carry on with my day. Because as much as I enjoyed the perks without it, the perks with it win.   It saves my life.

Kayla